Jean-Bedel Bokassa, dictator, Central African Republic; born February 22, 1921, died November 3, 1996

Jean-Bedel Bokassa, President of the Central African Republic from 1996 to 1979 - and the last emperor in Africa - will be remembered for a regime of appalling brutality, including charges of cannibalism. Initially supported by the French Government, his eventual downfall was brought about by the revelation by Amnesty International in May 1979 that 200 children had been murdered on his orders for protesting against being made to buy uniforms made in his factories. One witness reported Bokassa himself had watched as the children were tortured and shot and had himself shot one protestor.

Born in Oubangui-Chari, then one of the poorest French colonies in Africa, his father, a village chief, was killed by troops when Bokassa was only six years old. Overcome by grief, his mother committed suicide a week later, leaving 12 children. Sent to a French mission school, Bokassa acquired the name Bedel from the French grammar book used by the missionaries. He joined the Free French Forces in 1939 at the age of 18. After the war he remained in the French Army, serving with distinction in Indo-China. He returned to Oubangi-Chari in 1961, after it had been independent for a year as the Central African Republic to set up its armed forces on the invitation of the president, David Dacko, who was his cousin. By 1964 he was commander in chief.

Austerity measures brought in by Dacko in 1965, when the country was in economic crisis, made the president very unpopular, but Bokasso's coup on December 31 was rumoured to have been engineered by the French who feared Chinese diplomats were planning to overthrow the Government and gain control of the country's uranium deposits.

Bokassa dissolved the National Assembly, proclaimed himself president of a revolutionary council (as well as prime minister and commander in chief of the armed forces). His grandiose schemes for improving the economy started well. Exports of diamonds and cotton had doubled by 1969, but when they suffered as a result of bad weather and bad management, economic strategy was replaced by megalomania. In 1969 one of his closest aides was executed on charges of planning to murder him. His rule became increasingly unpredictable. On Mother's Day 1971 he freed all women from prison. In 1974 he proclaimed himself life-president and, following the model set by his hero Napoleon, marshal in 1975 and emperor in 1977.

That lavish and extraordinary coronation in which Bokassa I crowned himself again in imitation of Napoleon - on a throne in the shape of a gilded eagle, imported from France despite weighing two tons - was attended by diplomats from 40 countries, although many invited heads of state stayed away in revulsion. The spectacle - including an imperial state coach pulled by a team of white horses, 3000 opulently-uniformed guards, and a crown encrusted with rubies and emeralds as well as 8000 of the diamonds which, along with uranium deposits, were the country's chief wealth - was sickeningly grotesque in one of the world's poorest countries.

Despite increasing atrocities, the French Government continued to support this new rule in one of their former colonies until the massacre of the schoolchildren in 1979 provoked an international outcry. Just two years after his coronation, his most influential protector, Valery Giscard d'Estaing, was forced to withdraw his support. The connection had repercussions for the French president, who was embarrassed by Bokassa's claim that he had presented him with diamonds and ivory worth #1m. Although Giscard said he had sold the diamonds and given the proceeds to Central African Red Cross, the controversy was probably a significant factor in losing him the 1981 presidential election.

In September 1979, while Bokassa was in Libya seeking aid from Colonel Gaddafi, he was ousted in a French-backed coup which reinstated David Dacko as president.

Bokasso went into exile in the Ivory Coast for two years, before fleeing to live in one of his four chateaux in France. By 1986 he had run out of money and become homesick to the extent that he walked on to a plane for home - assuming his former subjects would receive him with delight. He was immediately arrested and became the first African chief of state to be publicly tried on charges of murder, torture, and cannibalism.

During the three-month trial, which became something of a showpiece, evidence of atrocities included testimony from a former cook that he had prepared meals with human flesh and watched his employer eat them ``with relish''. Bokassa denied all the allegations and was acquitted of the cannibalism charges, but convicted of murder and sentenced to death by firing squad. The sentence was commuted to 20 years in prison and in 1993, after serving nearly 10 years, he was allowed to return to live in his village.

Bokassa had numerous wives and mistresses and he is said to have fathered at least 55 children.